


I Need You... as a roommate

by Thatflor



Category: 19天 - Old先 | 19 Days - Old Xian
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Dates, College AU, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Smut, First Kisses, First Meeting, Fluff, Love, M/M, Maybe some angst, Romance, Slow Burn, The four boys are gonna live together, does not follow the manhua, overall happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:27:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27098842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatflor/pseuds/Thatflor
Summary: Zhan Zhengxi, He Tian, Mo Guanshan, and She Li decided to live together in an apartment close to the university they will be attending.But days before the first set of bills are due, a fight breaks out causing She Li to move out. The boys need to find a fourth roommate quick.Despite Zhang Zhengxi wanting to take more time in finding a suitable roommate, He Tian and Mo impulsively pick up the first guy they meet out on the street, a blondie named Jianyi.
Relationships: He Tian/Mo Guanshan (19 Days), Jian Yi/Zhan Zhengxi (19 Days), Zhan Zhengxi/Jian Yi (19 Days), Zhanyi - Relationship
Comments: 15
Kudos: 99





	1. a fight occurs

**Author's Note:**

> I love Zhang Zheng Xi and Jianyi, therefore I am going to to attempt a longer fic about them. I hope you enjoy :D

Zhang Zhengxi didn't have a lot of friends. He only really had He Tian and Mo Guanshan, (which were around each other most of the time) and occasionally She Li. The four of them hung out once in a while to play some basketball, and occasionally go out for a bite to eat/study. Even though he enjoyed some moments with them, Zhan never felt like he could truly call any of them his best friend. he wanted a bit of social interaction, and they filled those needs. So when they all found out they would be attending the same university three hours away from their hometown, Zhan Zhengxi blandly accepted renting an apartment together.

The four boys had moved into an apartment twenty minutes away from their school about one month before classes started. It was a decent size with four small bedrooms, a long hallway, a large living space, and kitchen. He Tian had no real money of his own, and he denied most of what his family wanted to give him as some sort of pride thing. This meant that all of them had equal responsibility in helping out with the bills. The first set of bills was approaching, and Zhan Zhengxi had managed to land a part time job as a tutor. It seemed like the others had found work too, so he wasn't worried. In fact, he was content to start a new chapter in his life. If he stuck to his own devices, and worked hard, he would be able to get a good career and have a simple yet fulfilling life. Those thoughts kept him going, but they also prevented him from seeing the rising tension between two members of the household. 

* * *

He Tian knew that She Li used to have a crush on Mo Guanshan back in middle school, and although he also knew that the redhead never reciprocated those feelings, it still irked him a lot. The only reason he put up with the damn guy was because he was one of Mo's childhood friends, and he didn't want to upset the person he had feelings for. It was He Tian's idea for the four of them to move in together, and he thought he could do it, but it was proving to be more and more difficult with each day that passed. She Li kept doing things that made him mad, it was like he was doing them on purpose. For example, the night She Li "generously' decided to do all their laundry, He Tian's was the only one whose white clothes ended up pink. The day it was She Li's turn to plan a group hang out, he "accidently" picked the day when everybody else was free except him. The night He Tian chose the games for a game night, She Li beat him in every single one. (that one might have been due to his own lack of gaming skills, but it still embarrassed him in front of Mo) Somehow, every situation that She Li was involved in got him fucked over, and he was getting sick of it!

* * *

One morning, five days before bills were due and classes started, Zhan Zhengxi woke up to the sound of yelling coming from the living room. He walked out and as he approached the space, he could see He Tian and She Li in a heated argument by the coffee table, with Mo Guanshan standing by the corner of the couch with an irritated look on his face. 

"Why the FUCK did you take my phone you bastard?!" He Tian Exclaimed.

"I didn't take your damn phone fuck face!" 

"Then why did I find it in your room!?"

"Why were you in MY room?!"

Zhan Zhengxi hadn't been noticed, and considered two options. He could either try to sneak out of there, but risk being seen by walking past the living room on his way to the front door. Or he could turn around and shut himself back into his room. He was about to do the latter, when He Tian called out to him.

"Zhan, can you believe this idiot stole my phone all day yesterday just so that I wouldn't get any messages from Mo about where we were supposed to meet up for our date yesterday?" 

"I... I'm not part of-"

"IT WASN'T A DATE DICK SHIT!... I just needed a bowling partner" Mo Guanshan's face was tinted pink.

He Tian got a smirk on his face. "You hear that Zhan and She Li, Little Mo wanted to go bowling with me. That's a date!" 

"That's not a date fuck face, and even if it were, you obviously didn't care enough about it to remember where you put your phone!"

"You took my phone! I remember putting my phone down on THIS coffee table before taking a nap, and when I woke up it wasn't there! You were the only one in the apartment at the time other than me, you took it!"

"It's not my fault you think you left it on the coffee table!"

This fight seemed like it was going to escalate, so Zhan Zhengxi decided to stick around just in case the two needed to be separated. He looked over to Mo Guanshan who still had a pink flush to his face. Their eyes met for a second, and a nod was shared between them that meant they both would break the two up if it was needed. 

She Li walked closer to He Tian. "You didn't answer. Why were you in MY room?'

He Tian inched a bit further towards She Li. "Because when YOUR door was open, I saw MY phone's notification light go off in there."

"Pfft, that doesn't prove shit. For all we know, you could have planted it in there yourself, and now you want to blame it on me."

"Now why would I do that bastard?!"

"Because you don't like me since you know I still like Mo Guanshan!"

Mo interrupted. "STILL!? She Li, you need to let this go."

He Tian's face turned red with anger, and he instantly grabbed She Li by the collar of his shirt. "You fucking bastard. This is why you've been a prick to me all this time."

She Li's expression was calm and smug as he put his hands up for the other to back off. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about He Tian....*a smirk*...whatever do you mean?"

He Tian Lost it, he punched the smug look from the other boy's face right off causing She Li to fall to the ground. He Tian kept his grip on his collar and kept hitting him while yelling. "FUCKING BASTARD YOU KNOW WHAT!" *another punch* "YOU ALWAYS FUCK ME OVER ON PURPOSE JUST SO YOU CAN GET CLOSER TO MY MO!" *another punch* "LET HIM GO ALREADY!"

Before there could be another punch, Mo Guanshan grabbed He Tian's arm while it was mid air and struggled to drag him up and away from the other. Zhan Zhengxi took hold of She Li by the shoulders and lifted him off the ground too. He had a busted, bleeding lip now, and roughly shrugged off Zhan's grasp. He walked dangerously close to a still seething He Tian, swiped the blood from his lip and cleaned it on Tian's black shirt. Mo had to restrain his hands behind his back with even more force. With a slight chuckle, She Li spoke.

"I'm leaving this place. I don't need to live with someone who doesn't like me." With that he walked to the front door, and turned his head one last time. "I'll send someone to pick up my things. Oh and Mo... I'll be seeing you around." He winked before leaving and slammed the door shut. 

Mo Guanshan stared at He Tian, who was still in his grasp, menacingly. It seemed like they both needed some space to talk things out. Zhan Zhengxi was too exhausted to go out, and he didn't want to run into She Li who was just exiting the building, so instead he shut himself into his room. Sitting on his bed, he took in a deep breathe before letting his back hit his sheets. That had been a draining experience. He never realized that He Tian and She Li didn't get along. To be fair, he didn't really pay much attention to any of their personal relationships.

As he stared up at the ceiling, a worrying thought came to him, they were going to have to get a new fourth roommate to help them out with the expenses. Everything was due in such a short amount of time, their university lives were just about to start, and now his whole friend dynamic had shifted, he was probably going to have to pay more for the bills until they found someone new, and - he needed to shut his mind off for a while. Zhan Zhengxi was exhausted, and in seconds he fell asleep... all those worries would be dealt with afterwards. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl that fight was fun to write. I know this chapter has a lot of He Tian/Mo in it, but the main story will be about Zhan Zhengxi and Jianyi, with a little side of the other boys. Let me know what yall think, and thanks for reading!


	2. slow planning required

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zhan is a worry-bug and has a plan on how to relieve his mind, which involves talking to He Tian and Mo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to make weekly uploads a regular thing for this story,   
> but I also really wanted to write another chapter like right now.

Zhan Zhengxi woke up later in the evening. When he opened his eyes, he once again stared at the ceiling. The same slight worry that was there before he fell asleep once again washed over him. He had to process the fight, 'That actually happened huh' He thought to himself, 'I've really gone all these years without noticing He Tian, Mo Guanshan, and She Li's personal relationships' He was always regarded as the "quiet observant" type in his family. He remembered when his little sister had once begged him to observe her crush's behavior around her to see if he could pick up on whether he liked her or not. She had been devastated when Zhan told her that it didn't seem like he did, and lo and behold, two weeks later that boy started going out with one of her classmates. It was instances like those that had made Zhan Zhengxi feel like he was good at reading people and keeping a close eye on them. Apparently he was just finding out he hadn't been doing it well with those he considered friends.

Zhan didn't want another incident like that to happen again. He didn't want to feel so clueless about the people around him anymore. He sat upright on the bed with a resolution in mind. He was going to try any be more present in his surroundings! Most importantly, whoever ended up being their fourth roommate, Zhan Zhengxi was going to try and be extra observant of them. He vowed he would get to know them, _really_ know them. That way he could never get blindsided by an incident again. The first step in achieving that goal was to carefully select a candidate with He Tian and Mo.

Feeling a bit better with himself, Zhan got up, left his room, and made his way down the hall to the living room. On the couch he found He Tian leaning his head on Mo Guanshan's shoulder. Despite having a scowl on his face, Mo was making no moves to try and get the other boy off of him. Zhan Zhengxi was glad that he didn't have to go searching for them, because he wanted to talk to them about his plans for proceeding after what happened.

Zhan walked closer to the couch, and as soon as Mo saw him, he pushed He Tian away from him. 

A startled He Tian rubbed his head that had just been shoved before looking up at Zhan, "Ah you're finally up, well Little Mo, looks like our cuddle session is over."

"Idiot that wasn't a- You know what, Zhan Zhengxi I would like to apologize for today."

Zhan took a seat on the couch next to them before responding, "That's in the past. Now I want to talk to you guys about how I think we should go about finding a new roommate."

The other boys simply nodded. By the glint in Zhan Zhengxi's eyes, they could tell that he already had a plan in mind about this. 

"I would prefer to find a roommate before classes start and bills are due, but I know that it's only five days away and-"

"I can find us a roommate no problem!" He Tian had to interrupt, "Even though I know I was in the right, I still feel like I should take responsibility for She Li leaving."

"No listen. I think we should all find a candidate together." A moment of silence passed as serious glances were shared with one another, "I know it will probably take more time, but I'm willing to pitch in more money until we can find someone that is suitable." Zhan appreciated that He Tian wanted to take the load off of their hands, but he had a goal in his mind and wanted to see it through. He only hoped they would go along. 

Tian was about to rebuttal, when Mo Guanshan spoke, "I think that's a good idea."

"My Little Mo, that would be so much work. I don't want you to worry over it."

"But I am you dumb fuck!" Mo turned his face away from the two and covered his mouth with his hand so that his words were barely audible. He muttered something Zhan was not able to understand. 

He Tian inched closer to him "what was that?"

Slightly higher muttering occurred causing Tian to inch even closer, "A littttttle bit louder now" 

"I SAID... I don't want you to get into more fights with anybody... uh NOT YOU SPECIFICALLY, but like Zhan or I...THE POINT IS I think it would be best to do as he says and take our time finding someone we can all agree fits best" 

"MO I KNEW YOU CARE ABOUT ME!" He Tian closed the gap between them and embraced the redhead against the other's wishes. 

Zhan Zhengxi did not care if Mo Guanshan reciprocated He Tian's feelings or not, did not care for their romantic lives, and he certainly did not care about the little "moment" they were currently having, but he did care about them both accepting his roommate plan. Therefore ignoring the hug in front of him, he asked, "He Tian does this mean you agree now too?"

Tian was too focused on keeping his hold on a struggling Mo that he didn't even turn to look at Zhan Zhengxi and instead gave a short reply, "If it's what Mo wants, I guess it's what Mo gets."

Zhan was content with that answer, and he walked off. The rest of his day was filled with making specific courses of action. He typed up a roommate application draft, as well as a list of certain qualities he would like the person to have. He highly encouraged the other two to do the same that way they could all get a sense of what they collectively wanted. Zhan Zhengxi was hopeful that this was going to work. There was a lack of enthusiasm from Tian and Mo but it would all be worth it in the end, because how hard could it be finding a fourth roommate as a team of three? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He Tian might change his mind about going along with this plan soon.   
> Also I'm super excited because our lovely blondie is FINALLY showing up next chapter.  
> Thanks for reading :D


	3. interviews are hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After so many failed interviews, He Tian can't take it anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our blondie doesn't show up until the end but at least he's finally here!

The three boys had put up an online ad the night before. Even though they seemed ok with taking their time in finding a fourth roommate, they secretly dreaded the fact that they would all have to pitch in more money towards the apartment bills that were due in a couple of days. The ad was short. All it contained was Zhan Zhengxi’s email (since this was his plan), a small description of the apartment, and a list of encouraged qualities they would like to have in a roommate. Well, the list of qualities was mostly made by Zhan because both He Tian and Mo Guanshan said they didn’t really care what kind of person they ended up being, as long as they paid up. Zhan Zhengxi on the other hand, had specific preferences.

* * *

*flashback

“I want someone who isn’t too loud. Someone who has good hygiene. They have to be responsible. Also have at least some of the same tastes in videogames so we can all hang out together without it being awkward, the more things we have in common the better. They should like to go out for walks, groups or in pairs. Also-“

“Woah Zhan, are you naming off things you want in a roommate or in a partner?” He Tian pat Zhan Zhengxi on the shoulder while Mo Guanshan silently chuckled.

His face started to blush just a bit as he realized he did sound like he was talking about a dating ad for himself, rather than a roommate ad for the three of them. He just wanted them to find someone that would best suit the lifestyle they led. They were about to be university students, and the last thing he wanted was some lazy, loudmouth hooligan walking around the place.

Mo joked around more, “Well who knows, maybe Zhan Zhengxi will find love in this person.”

“Aww Little Mo, I didn’t pin you for a romantic, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” Tian cooed while poking the redhead’s cheek.

Mo Guanshan snarled at him, “Fuck you asshole, I was messing around. Let’s just type up what he said on this damn website, post it, and go the fuck to sleep. It’s been a long day.”

* * *

Zhan Zhengxi woke up to six emails from potential candidates looking for a place to move into. He was excited at how fast people had responded to the ad. He had been certain that they wouldn’t get their first application for at least a week. Zhan guessed that maybe there were a bunch of soon to be university students who had waited until the last minute to find housing. Whatever the reason, he was glad that they could potentially find someone. When he told He Tian and Mo Guanshan about it, they agreed to hold two interviews a day, with the first set hopefully being that afternoon.

Zhan Zhengxi contacted the first two people through email, and thankfully the first one was to come at around four pm. To be honest all three boys were kind of nervous. They never planned on having to interview people and didn’t know what kinds of questions they were going to ask. At one point He Tian questioned if they could just pick the person whose application looked the best, but Zhan Zhengxi turned him down, saying that it would go against his whole plan. They tried coming up with a list of questions to ask candidates but just stared at each other in silence for a good while, until Mo just exclaimed, “Fuck it, we’re just winging this shit!” Zhan wanted to say something against that so badly, but at the moment his mind was at a blank, so he had no choice but to agree.

* * *

*4:00pm

The doorbell rang. He Tian and Mo Guanshan turned to Zhan Zhengxi to answer it. A little annoyed with this, Zhan got up and walked towards the door. Upon opening it he saw a girl with long black hair half tied up. She looked up at him nervously.

“Hello, my name is Xiao Hui…. Umm… I’m here for the roommate interview.”

Zhan opened the door to let her in, and as she stepped towards the couch, he could see the widened eyes of He Tian and Mo Guanshan. He mentally cursed himself for not remembering to put “no girls” in the online ad. Nothing against girls, but he thought it would be very awkward for one girl to live with so many guy strangers. He took a breathe and while walking over to join the rest of them on the couch, he tried telling himself that maybe it wouldn’t be _that bad_ if they had a girl roommate, but if it failed they still had many other potentials.

A wave of silent, awkward tension filled the air as the boys introduced themselves, then Zhan asked, “Do you like videogames?”

Xiao Hui, who had been staring at her hands in her lap finally looked up, but didn’t make eye contact with any of them, “Um… I play animal crossing, and some Sims… but other than that not much.”

Zhan replied, “That’s ok, however we play a lot of racing and fighting/adventure games such as The Last of us, Final Fantasy, Mario Kart-“

“Yea we play a lot of games.” Mo Guanshan interrupted Zhan as he was going down a spiral, “Anyways, how ok are you with loud noise, or noise of any kind especially at night?”

“Ah I go to sleep early most of the time, and unfortunately I’m a very light sleeper……BUT I can tolerate the noise, not tolerate, that was the wrong word to use I…I’m sorry.”

More silence…. Then He Tian glanced at Zhan with a smirk before asking, “How do you feel about long walks?”

Zhan Zhengxi wanted to slap him, because he was obviously jokingly using one of the recommended qualities he had put on the ad.

Xiao Hui looked puzzled, “Walks?”

“Yes walks, with us as a group, or in pairs? Didn’t you read the full online advertisement?”

“Oh…. No, I’m very sorry. I’m ok with walks…uh… although I prefer just sitting outside on the porch with some tea.”

“I like tea.” responded Mo Guanshan with a little glint in his eye, and Zhan Zhengxi just nodded.

He Tian was a little annoyed now, but continued with the questioning, “huh, well Xiao Hui tell us something interesting about yourself, what kind of person are you?”

“oh..uh… I guess I’m a nice person, I don’t go out much, I don’t make too much noise…..and I uh, I think I can cook alright…..and-“

“Mo Guanshan here knows how to cook perfectly, so we don’t care if you can. Tell us something about yourself that would make you a good roommate for us?”

The girl’s eyes widened at this sudden change in tone, “I’m hardworking! … I’m starting classes at the university close to here soon and I ……I….”

“Cat’s got your tongue?” He Tian jokingly asked.

Even though he had said it as a joke, the girl visibly took it as real mocking as she started to tremble a bit, “No, I’ sorry I’m really shy…… I just need somewhere to live, otherwise I have to live in the dorms, and I don’t want to be around so many new people! I fugured it would be easier to adjust with only three others, but I didn’t know you would all be boys, and I’m really sorry for wasting your time!” With that, she burst into tears, vigorously wiping away at them with her hands.

He Tian and Mo Guanshan did not know how to handle this situation. Luckily, Zhan Zhengxi had an idea of what to do, since he had experienced similar moments with his little sister back at home. He got up from the couch and went to go make her a cup of jasmine tea to calm her down, while also handing her a couple of tissues. They all sat there for a while until she felt better. Zhan told her that she didn’t waste their time because they got to meet a potential new friend, and that he wished her the best of luck in finding somewhere to live. He walked her out, and before she left, she quickly turned around to give him a small thank-you hug. When he went back to He Tian and Mo Guanshan, they were all in shock.

After a moment, He Tian looked at the clock and said, “Well, we got thirty minutes until the next one, and four more interviews in the coming days. This is gonna be exhausting!”

…It was more than exhausting. Those three days were the most draining experiences they had ever dealt with. Half of the people who had shown up were girls, which resulted in awkward similar experiences to Xiao Hui. A couple of the candidates, both girls and boys flirted heavily with all of them which made them feel super uncomfortable. One guy didn’t pay attention to any question they asked and kept trying to sell them drugs. Another guy seemed jittery and kept answering questions with few words, and after a quick background check (thanks to He Tian) they found out he was on the run from the police for a theft crime he had committed. The boys were tired to say the least.

* * *

With only two days left until classes started and bills were due, they all agreed to take a small brake from the search because they didn’t have the energy to set up any more interviews at the moment. Zhan Zhengxi decided he would spend his last two days of free time getting ready for school and making sure he had all the supplies and books he needed for his classes. He refused to go anywhere.

He Tian, on the other hand, dragged Mo Guanshan to the nearest bowling alley to make up for their lost “date”, even though Mo completely refused to call it a date. They ended up having fun and decided to walk through the park on their way home, but somewhere in the middle they found a bench to sit on.

“This fucking search is hell!” He Tian groaned while leaning his head on Mo Guanshan’s shoulder, “I don’t know how much more of these interviews I can take.”

“We wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t pushed She Li to leave.” Mo’s tone was snarky, but he made no attempt to shove the other one off of him.

“Hey, why are you defending him, She Li sucks ass, and he was out to sabotage me every way possible. Didn’t you see how he cruelly wiped his blood on my shirt?!”

“He sounds like an ass to me!” That voice did not belong to Mo Guanshan. Instead it came from the bushes behind them.

He Tian and Mo froze in shock before Tian spoke up, “Whose there? Show yourself?”

“I don’t really want to get up, I’m comfy and trying to sleep here. You guys are too loud!”

The two boys got up and followed the voice. Behind the bushes they found a blonde guy that looked around their age curled up in a sleeping bag. He looked up at them with annoyance, “Why did you look for me? I want to sleep.”

“Do you usually bud into random people’s conversations?” Tian asked.

The blonde sat up, “yea, usually people get freaked out and leave when I do though.”

“What’s your name?” Tian asked him. Mo Guanshan gave him an angry confused look. What was he doing, and why was he still talking to this guy?

“I don’t have to tell you that….. wait…. You weren’t sent here by my mother were you?!” The blonde’s eyes filled with worry. He got up, struggled to grab his sleeping bag and a nearby backpack, and attempted to run away before He Tian grabbed his arm.

“I don’t know your mother dude! Calm the fuck down, I just want to know your name. but…why are you worried? Is your mom looking for you?”

The blonde sighed and shook his arm free, “Well you two don’t look like people who would work for my mother…so I’ll tell you. My name is Jianyi. I ran away from home because I got accepted into the university here, but she didn’t want to let me go because she’s super protective of me.”

He Tian and Mo Guanshan were intrigued to know more. Without thinking Mo asked, “Why is she protective of you?”

“Because carrot head, one time during childhood someone tried to kidnap me, and she’s been over the top panicked ever since. But that was ages ago, I’m nineteen now, I need to venture out!”

A moment of silence passed, then He Tian asked, “Have you been living in the park?”

“Yup, I’m sleeping here until I can find a place to live and a job.”

“Why didn’t you try the dorms?”

“My mom was always monitoring my online activity, so I missed the deadline to apply to live in them.”

He Tian got a glint in his eyes, like he had decided in his head right then and there. Mo Guanshan looked at him with worried eyes. He knew what the other boy was thinking, and he knew Zhan Zhengxi wouldn’t like it one bit.

“Well Jianyi, today is your lucky day. My name is He Tian and this “carrot head” is Mo Guanshan. How would you like to live with us and our friend Zhan Zhengxi?! We’re also going to university and our apartment is close to it. You can help pay once you get a job!”

Mo spoke before Jianyi could say a word, “Shouldn’t we think about this more, we can’t just pick someone off the street!… no offence-“

“Little Mo, you worry too much. Look at him, he looks harmless.” He Tian replied, then turned to whisper in his ear, “Do you really want to continue with these roommate interviews? We start classes soon. Do you really want to have that added stress?”

Mo Guanshan’s ear turned red at the sensation of Tian’s breath against it. He had a point though. Therefore, he turned towards Jinayi, who was staring at the both of them, his things still in hand. He took a deep breathe, “You know what, I think you would fit right in with us. Do you want to be our fourth roommate?”

Jianyi’s eyes sparkled and he did a little hop of enthusiasm, “HELL YEA I WANT TO! BEATS SLEEPING ON THE HARD GROUND ANYMORE!”

The boy’s happiness amused them both. On their way to the apartment Mo Guanshan commented, “Don’t call me carrot head though.”

“Not likely carrot head.”

…As they continued walking, He Tian and Mo couldn’t help but wonder how Zhan Zhengxi would react to this peppy, strange guy. They figured he would just have to deal with it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I really want to do weekly updates, but I have fun writing chapters spontaneously! Hope you liked the chapter!


	4. a stranger...in my house?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It takes some convincing for Zhan to let the blonde officially live there.

When the three boys made it into the apartment, they found Zhan Zhengxi making himself some instant ramen in the kitchen. He Tian and Mo Guanshan wanted to sneak Jianyi into his new room so that Zhan wouldn’t find out until later, but before they could tell the blondie to keep quiet, he loudly dropped his belongings and shouted,

“Woah! I smell food and I’m hungry!”

From inside the kitchen, Zhan Zhengxi froze in his trakcs. He had never heard that voice before. After pouring hot water into his bowl of noodles and covering it, he peeped his head out of the kitchen. There stood a tall lanky pale boy with blonde hair that reached just below his chin, smiling from ear to ear. The other two were a few steps behind him with guilty looks on their faces. Furrowing a brow, Zhan fully stepped out to meet them in silence.

After a moment of awkward pause, Jianyi spoke again. He was clearly oblivious to the tense atmosphere in the room, because he spoke with such eagerness while looking around, “This place looks so nice!” He turned to Zhan Zhengxi, “You must be the fourth roommate, my name is Jianyi. I promise I will do my best to be a great roomie! Thank you soo much for letting me live here!”

Zhan broke his silence, “Hold on a minute! Who said anything about living here?” He was clearly in distress. He looked towards Tian and Mo, who only adverted their eyes. “Did these fucks bring you in?”

Jinayi’s smile wavered only a little at the other’s harsh tone, but answered, “Yeah… we just met in the park, and they asked me if I needed a place to live, I said yes, and here I am!” With that, Jianyi took a few steps closer to Zhan, extending a hand to shake, but Zhan slapped it away and stomped towards He Tian and Mo Guanshan, his eyes seething in shock and anger as he pointed his index finger close to their faces.

“You guys did what now?! Did you SERIOUSLY PICK UP SOME RANDOM GUY OFF THE STREET!?”

Mo Guanshan hid behind He Tian, nudging him to give an explanation as it was the black-haired dumbass’s fault. He Tian took a breath, smirked, and said, “Well to be fair… it was a park, not a street. And he isn’t random, we asked a couple questions to get to know him.”

Zhan Zhengxi was mad that Tian had the audacity to joke around while he was so clearly angry with them, “Oh you got to know him huh?! What happened to MY plan? Everyone agreed that we would pick the best person as a group!”

This time Mo Guanshan answered a bit nervously, “You’re right Zhan Zhengxi, and I apologize… but heey we picked him as a pair. At least it wasn’t just one of us.”

“So you’re admitting you both betrayed me?”

“It was He Tian’s idea!”

“Fuck Mo throwing me under the bus. Hey, Hey no one has betrayed anyone here. Relax Zhan!” He Tian said.

“How should I relax when you disregarded our deal!”

Despite risking a potential punch or slap from Zhan, he placed an arm on his shoulder, “Ok I apologize, but we haven’t been having the best of luck with these so called “applicants” Aren’t you fed up too?”

Mo Guanshan piped in, “Yea man, this has been hell so far. Plus, he seems ok, would you just give him a shot?”

After some more silence and a deep sigh Zhan spoke, “…Look I’m open to giving him an interview right here this mome-“ Zhan stopped his sentence midway because as he turned around expecting to see the stray, he was met with no one. Then suddenly Jianyi came out of the kitchen with the bowl of instant ramen Zhan had left in there a couple minutes ago. The three boys stared at him as he took a big bite.

Jianyi pouted when he saw their looks of shock, “It sounded like you guys were having a personal conversation, and I was hungry, so I found this in the kitchen… I’m sorry.”

“That was mine.” Zhan tried his best to maintain his cool.

He Tian walked over to the blonde and dragged him by the arm over to the couch, “Jinayi, it seems we have to give you an interview to see if you’re really suited for this place.” He took a seat on the opposite couch and motioned for the others to do the same, which they did. Jianyi only nodded since his cheeks were occupied with chewing. Tian continued speaking, “I’ll start off by introducing you to this guy right here, Zhan Zhengxi. He’s alright once you get to know him.”

“And you already met us at the park.” Mo mentioned while motioning to him and the other boy.

They all turned their heads towards Zhan Zhengxi, whose look had yet to soften, “Sorry for yelling. I just think we should ask you more questions before doing anything stupid.”

Jianyi slurped off some broth, “Ask away! What do you wanna know?”

“Well for starters, where were you currently living?”

“The park. As I told these guys, I sort of ran away from home because of my overprotective mother. I’m starting classes at the university near here soon and need an actual place to stay.”

Mo Guanshan interrupted, “Yea Zhan. The poor clown just wants to go to school, and his mom wouldn’t let him. He’s harmless!”

But Zhan Zhengxi wasn’t convinced although that piece of information did soften him up a bit. “Ok, I appreciate someone who ran away to get an education. We’re also going to the same school… but what are you like as a person? Why should we let you live here?”

Jianyi contemplated the question for a few moments as he finished up the Ramen. “…hmm..I think I’m a fun guy. I play a lot of videogames, and I see yall have a nice set up over by the TV. I’m pretty messy, but I’ll try to keep that to my room, and uh yea.”

“Do you have any problems with loud noises?”

Jianyi busted out a chuckle, “HAHA, I AM THE LOUD NOISE!”

He Tian joined him in his chuckle, “Oh I like him” He turned to Zhan, “Come on man, he’ll get along just fine.” Mo Guanshan nodded in agreement.

Zhan Zhengxi stared at the blonde for a minute. Several thoughts were going through his head. Jinayi seemed harmless enough, but they still didn’t know much about him. He wasn’t some other applicant that they could look up his housing profile. He was still mad at He Tian and Mo for going behind his back and deciding without him. And by accepting him, it could potentially make his plan of selecting the right person backfire, but maybe this was the right person.

It took him a bit, but he made up his mind, “…Fine, you can live here.” Before He Tian and Mo Guanshan could begin to cheer, he added, “but you have to help pay the bills around here, and one wrong move and you’re out.”

Jianyi could not contain his excitement and jumped to give Zhan Zhengxi a hug, “THANK YOU! You won’t regret it, as soon as I get a job, I will!” Zhan pushed him off roughly.

Once the cheering went down, He Tian said, “oh I forgot to ask. So Jianyi, you like walks?”

“huh?”

Zhan stopped himself from hitting a laughing Tian over the head for once again mocking one of the preferred qualities he had put on the list. Quickly he led Jianyi to his new room, and they all turned in for the night.

* * *

The next morning, Zhan Zhengxi woke up with a bit of worry in his mind (it seemed that was becoming the new norm for him) Had they done the right thing? Accepting a complete stranger from off the street? To be fair, even if they did pick someone that had properly applied, that person still would have been an absolute stranger as well. If anything, they could always have He Tian run a background check on the boy, but Jianyi seemed sane enough. Hopefully, this would work out well.

Now all he had to do was move on to the next step of his plan. If he didn’t want to be left in the dark ever again, he was going to have to pay more attention. His first impression of the blonde was that he was energetic and a bit annoying, but it would take a lot more than that to derail Zhan Zhengxi from getting closer to their new roommate. As he was lost in thought, he heard a faint knock on his door.

A muffled voice came through, it was Jianyi, “Zhan Zhengxi, uh I woke up feeling kind of bad for eating your food last night, so I wanted to make it up to you by making ya breakfast.”

Zhan was surprised. It was a nice thought, but his worries were still there. Despite that, he went to open the door in his pajamas, Jinayi was also wearing his. With an emotionless stare he walked past him heading towards the kitchen. He looked around and saw that He Tian and Mo Guanshan weren’t up yet, it would just be him and the new guy. “What did you make?”

“I made some eggs and toast!” Jianyi felt happy that Zhan didn’t seem upset at him and was going to take his apology. In all seriousness the ramen wasn’t the only thing he was apologizing for. He also felt guilty that he had shown up out of nowhere last night. Sure, the other two had invited him, but they had told him there was a fourth person, and he should have taken under consideration how he might feel about having a stranger just appear. He smiled wide and ran past Zhan Zhengxi to serve him up a big portion of food on a plate and fork that he found in the cupboards. He watched eagerly for him to take a bite.

Zhan Zhengxi spit his forkful immediately, “Ugk, why are these eggs so salty?!”

“What! They are not!” Jianyi quickly grabbed a fork and tasted his own creation. “Bleh, I swear I didn’t add much salt on this!”

“Are you sure?”

“….well, maybe a little. I thought it would give them more flavor.”

“Idiot!” Zhan Zhengxi exclaimed, causing Jinayi to pout. His intentions had been pure, but the execution had been poor. They ended up throwing it all in the trash and waited until Mo Guanshan woke up to force him to cook something for them. At least Zhan Zhengxi learned something new about the blonde that morning, and that was that he wasn’t a good cook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween! At last the two cuties finally meet! Please let me know how you're enjoying the story so far. Their interaction will only grow from here on out!


	5. not as he hoped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our boy Zhan Zhengxi unintentionally keeps messing up.

Sunday came, this was the last day before their classes started. Zhan Zhengxi stood right outside Jianyi’s door hoping to spend more time with their new roommate in order to get to know him better. Zhan was never the best at reaching out to people first, and his palms were quite sweaty as he tried to build up the courage to knock on the door, as the blonde had done so easily to his yesterday. His courage dwindled when He Tian loudly stomped out of his room and marched down the hallway yelling,

“LAST DAY OF FREEDOM, WE SHOULD ALL DO SOMETHING TOGETHER!”

Zhang Zhengxi got startled and quickly moved away from Jianyi’s room. Tian noticed and just chuckled while giving him a look, “Morning Zhan.”

“Morning He Tian.”

“ANYWAYS WAKE THE FUCK UP EVERYBODY, WE ARE GOING OUT TODAY!”

Jianyi and Mo Guanshan slowly opened their doors with sleep in their eyes. Out of all four boys, Jian’s hair was the most tussled and Zhan Zhengxi couldn’t help but smile in amusement. The blonde ran a hand through is hair in an attempt to smooth it down, but to no avail.

“He Tian you dick, I wanted to sleep the day away today,” Mo said with annoyance.

He Tian put an arm around the redhead’s waist against his protest, and addressed everyone, “I just think we should do some bonding before tomorrow, Jianyi over here is still new and all.”

Zhan turned his gaze towards the blonde, “I actually think he has a good idea, what do you think?” He had wanted to spend the day with just him, because he felt it would be the best way to get to know him, but in all honesty he was glad that Tian had suggested to do some group activity. It saved him from his own awkwardness.

The look of sleep vanished from Jianyi’s face and instead was replaced by a huge smile, “I think that’s a great idea. I would love to bond with yall!”

Mo Guanshan, who had been fighting with He Tian’s grip the entire time stopped his efforts for a second to focus on looking up at him, “Ugh fine, what do you have in mind?”

Happy that his little Mo had stopped struggling, he squeezed his waist tighter, “Hmm, we should go watch a movie, but first we should eat.”

* * *

During breakfast, the four boys discussed what kind of movie they wanted to see. The two big titles that were showing in theaters at the moment were a romcom and an action movie, both of which looked very cheesy. Although they each secretly would have preferred to watch the romantic comedy, their egos wouldn’t let them admit that out loud, and they ended up deciding to see the cheesy action film like “real men do”.

Once they reached the entrance of the movie theater Jianyi stopped mid step as his shoulders drooped, “… I forgot I don’t have money to pay for a ticket… or for anything else really, right now.”

The others stared at him for a second. Zhan Zhengxi was thinking. This would be the first perfect opportunity to bond with the new guy, all he had to do was offer to pay for his ticket.

He thought he was cool as he walked up to Jianyi and gave him a serious look before starting off with, “Idiot, movie tickets are expensive. I th-“

“Ah I’m sorry, I should have thought about this sooner.” The blonde took a step back to get away from Zhan, whom he thought looked angry.

“What, no I-“

Mo Guanshan walked between the two and interrupted, “It’s really not that big of a deal Zhan.” He gave him a bit of a mean look, then a more sympathetic one towards the shorter one, “I got some extra money saved up, I’ll pay for your ticket.”

“Really? I don’t want to inconvenience you.” Jianyi said while sniffling a bit. He thought the Redhead was nice.

“Don’t look at me like that!” He blushed through gritted teeth, “We came all the way here, might as well make sure we accomplish what we set out to do!”

The blonde’s happy demeaner returned as he jumped on Mo, while He Tian chuckled. The three walked past Zhan Zhengxi. He Tian gave him a look, “You didn’t have to be so harsh dude.” Then he hurried to join the others.

This left Zhan Zhengxi standing all alone in the middle of the sidewalk, left in shock. That had not gone the way he had intended. He hadn’t meant to sound like an asshole, the way he was going to end his sentence before Jianyi misunderstood was, ‘I think this hang out should be fun though, so I can pay for your ticket.” Zhan smacked his forehead with his palm, in retrospect, starting off the sentence with “Idiot, tickets are expensive” probably wasn’t the smartest way to go about things. He shook off some of the embarrassment, he would have to apologize to Jianyi. He purchased his own ticket, bought a large popcorn (as a piece-offering), and made his way towards theater 10.

Upon entering the dark screen room, he spotted his roommates. Luckily, He Tian and Mo Guanshan always sat next to each other, so there was an empty seat available next to Jianyi. Zhan wanted to clear up what had just happened right away, but as he sat down the movie was about to start. Jian scooted a bit towards Mo in his seat and away from Zhan.

He mentally cursed that they hadn’t arrived with enough time for the previews, because now he wouldn’t get a chance to talk to the blonde until after. Several minutes passed and he remembered the big bucket of popcorn in his lap and thought he would try to subtly offer the boy some.

What he didn’t realize was that Jianyi had been eyeing that popcorn since the moment Zhan entered. He could always sniff out popcorn from a mile away, and the only reason he didn’t get any was because he was being treated for free, so it would have been impolite to ask for the redhead to buy him a snack as well. He also didn’t want to ask if he could have some because he still felt a bit tense over Zhan Zhengxi scolding him for not remembering he didn’t have any cash on him.

The first fight sequence was occurring, and as Jianyi distractedly side-eyed the popcorn on the other boy’s lap, he saw Zhan lift the bucket up with one hand, without taking his own eyes off the screen. In that moment, Zhan Zhengxi lost balance over the big bucket as he was bringing it closer to the one sitting next to him. He didn’t have enough time to catch it as half of the buttery stuff fell all over Jianyi’s white shirt and grey pants.

Hearing the commotion, He Tian and Mo Guanshan turned to see what had happened. They both mouthed to Zhan, “What the fuck?”

Zhan mouthed an “I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry.” to Jianyi, but he only nodded without looking back at him. Instead he tried playing it off by picking up the pieces that had landed on his shirt and popping them in his mouth. The other three were a bit disgusted but didn’t say anything. Once there were no more pieces left to eat, he looked down at his clothes in the dim light and sighed knowing that he would have stains on them after this. They all went back to watching the movie, but the only ones who genuinely enjoyed it were He Tian and Mo Guanshan. Jianyi was too busy wondering why Zhan didn’t seem to like him, and Zhan Zhengxi was too busy worrying over how he should apologize once they got out of there.

When it finished, the blonde immediately jumped out of his seat and walked closely with the other two towards the exit, leaving Zhan behind. Zhan Zhengxi walked behind them all the way to the movie theater exit. There he managed to catch up next to Jian, who was in the middle of enthusiastically rambling about how fancy the movie theater was.

Zhan couldn’t wait and grabbed his arm while he tried apologizing, “Hey I wanted to-“

He Tian stopped him, “He was in the middle of speaking dude. It’s not nice to interrupt people.”

“Oh give me a break!” Zhan Zhengxi thought out loud. He meant that as in he couldn’t catch a break with all the misunderstandings today. Lost for words, and before he could find anything to say that would make things better, Jianyi shook his arm free.

“It’s ok.” He faced him, “I forgive you.” He just didn’t want to upset him anymore than he apparently had.

After a pause, all of their stomachs growled.

“Seems like we should go get something to eat. Let’s try out that café over there.” He Tian looked at Jianyi, “and don’t worry, this time I got you covered, that way Zhan can’t complain it’s too expensive.”

“Ah Thank you! You’re so kind.” With that, the blonde once again walked closer to them.

* * *

Zhan Zhengxi was mostly silent the whole time they ate because he didn’t want to mess up again. He just observed the other three as they chatted along. The only time he spoke was to answer what he was going to be studying in school, to which he replied he was going to major in Writing, and minor in Math. Then he learned that Jianyi was going to major in the same thing as him, and minor in Art. Mo Guanshan shared the Art minor, but was going to major in Business along with He Tian.

After eating, Jianyi suggested they should just go home and play some video games since that wouldn’t cost anymore money, and he was already embarrassed that the other two had bought him the movie ticket and lunch.

* * *

They were now in their living room on their fifth Mario Cart tournament. Mo sat on the floor and was leaning back between He Tians legs that were hanging from the side of the couch. Jianyi was sitting on the other corner of the couch a bit closer to Zhan Zhengxi who was on the floor.

Zhan was trying his best to watch his actions because he didn’t want to upset Jianyi anymore than he already had. He figured he had plenty of time to apologize and re-do things tomorrow or something.

They were on the final lap and he was an expert at guiding his car towards the finish line first. To his surprise, their new roommate was only a few moments behind him, coming in at second place. He didn’t watch his actions carefully enough because when he won, Zhan Zhengxi threw both his arms up in victory, smacking the blonde right in the face hard.

“I SWEAR I DIDN’T MEAN TO!” Zhan Zhengxi said while trying to take a look at his face, only to see a red bump starting to form.

Jianyi simply rubbed his face, “Ah, it’s ok! …I think I better go take a look at this in the bathroom.” He didn’t even give Zhan the chance to reply before he was already up and gone.

He Tian and Mo gave him a serious glare, and while shaking their heads sarcastically said, “Nice Going.”

The blonde came back a couple minutes later and He Tian and Mo Guanshan wanted to resume playing games. Zhang Zhengxi thought it best to shut himself in his room because he couldn’t stand the tension he had unintentionally created. He plopped onto his bed and thought of possible ways he could fix this situation tomorrow. So far, this day had not gone as he had hoped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this story helps me smile. Thank you for reading.


	6. first day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zhan is bad at social interaction, and She Li is a dick.

“MORNING EVERYBODY!” Jianyi was the last to step into the kitchen and entered yelling with enthusiasm. He was excited for the first day of classes. Honestly, he was just happy that he had managed to make it this far, because he had been worried that his mother would have found him by now.

Mo Guanshan was cooking up some eggs, while He Tian and Zhan Zhengxi sat at the table. 

Jianyi grabbed a plate and went to sit. He was a little wary of Zhan after the previous day’s events but took a deep breath before sitting down next to him and didn’t make eye contact. He seriously did not know why he was being mean to him. He remembered the day after he moved in, Jianyi had apologized for eating his food and showing up out of the blue. Everything seemed to go alright that day, so he couldn’t place where all this bitterness was coming from. Had he actually not forgiven him?

Zhan Zhengxi felt the tension between them. It made him feel anxious. He wanted to apologize for yesterday but didn’t want to open his mouth and potentially do something to make things worse. He figured saying nothing was better than saying anything.

After taking a mouth full of eggs, He Tian spoke up “Mo get your cute butt over here already.”

A small humph was heard, and seconds later the red head begrudgingly came over and plopped down next to him, “Don’t talk about my butt dick shit.”

“Can I think about your butt then?”

“NO!”

“Well why not?”

Mo covered Tian’s mouth with his hand and turned towards the other two who were currently pretending not to hear what they were talking about, “Do you guys think it’s appropriate for someone to comment on your butt?”

Jianyi pondered the question. “Maybe if the person is special to you.” *eyebrow wiggle* “BUT, you should give consent first!”

Mo’s cheeks turned pink, “No one here is special to me in that way!” suddenly he felt a kiss being pressed into the palm of his hand. Mo quicky pulled it away from Tian’s mouth and wiped it on a napkin.

“You’re special to me Mo.” He Tian said with a small devious smile, “Therefore I think I’m gonna continue talking about your butt.”

“Enough talking about it!” The redhead looked over at Zhan Zhengxi with slightly pleading eyes hoping he would change the subject. He was usually good at doing that, but nothing happened. Zhan kept quiet as he ate his food, causing an awkward silence in the atmosphere. Thankfully, that only lasted a bit as He Tian remembered something.

“Ah our bills are due today… honestly I’ve never had to pay things like this before, so I don’t know how to do it.” This confession earned him irritated looks from Mo and Zhan, but Mo answered him.

“Fucking rich boy. Well as long as you have your part of the money, then I have no problem being the one in charge of making the online payments.” Mo paused, “That reminds me, we’re all pitching in more this time right?” He Tian and Zhan nodded. “Ok then, just send me the money, and I’ll do the rest today”

Jianyi felt guilty that he didn’t have enough to pay his fair share this time, but with a determined smile on his face he shouted, “I’ll find a job soon and pay up next time!”

Although Zhan Zhengxi had chosen to remain silent, he impulsively tried encouraging him in his job search. He liked that the blonde looked determined and was sure that with that attitude, he would have no trouble finding employment. However, when he opened his mouth to speak, his tone of voice betrayed him, “You should get a job quickly.” He meant that as in ‘you should get a job quickly because you seem energetic and serious about it’ but instead it came out as some sort of snarky command. He felt shame enter his body once more when he saw Jianyi’s smile waver. He should have just stayed quiet.

“Yea… I promise I will…sorry.” He took a breath and tried ignoring Zhan’s stare. “So anyways… when are your guy’s first class today?”

He Tian took a moment to remember his schedule and replied, “…I’m pretty sure it’s in the afternoon.”

“Ah, me too.” Mo Guanshan said.

Jianyi was upset at that because it meant that they would head over to the university later, “I have mine this morning. It’s my Intro to the English major class with Professor Oldxian I believe.”

Mo’s eyes got wide, “Ah Zhan aren’t you planning on being an English major too? Wouldn’t you have that class?”

Zhan Zhengxi really didn’t want to talk anymore, but he felt he had no choice. It was just his luck that he did have that class as well, “…yea”

“Seeing as you clearly haven’t been getting along with our roomie here, I think this is a good chance for you guys to bond.”

The two boys slowly turned to look at one another, both anxious. Jianyi was sure that Zhan didn’t like him, and Zhan was nervous of screwing up more. Despite this, they both nodded their heads in agreement.

He Tian looked at the clock on the wall, “You two better hurry and get ready then if you don’t want to miss the train.”

* * *

The whole journey to school was very awkward. They walked together to the station in silence. Zhan Zhengxi was too scared to say anything that seemed harsh again, and Jianyi was scared that the other would be mean to him again. When they got onto the train, they were forced to stand very close as there was a crowd of people on.

The only time they kind of spoke to one another was when they were hunting down the location of their class. It was on the second story of the English department building. Jianyi rushed in to find a seat near the front, and Zhan Zhengxi thought it best to sit in the far back, away from the blonde.

‘Why was it so hard to make a friend?” he thought to himself. Surely he must have made friends all on his own in the past. Zhan tried to recall how he had become acquainted with He Tian and Mo Guanshan. He thought back on how they were all in the same class in middle school and it was He Tian who reached out to him first when he invited him to play basketball. He was surprised that he had continued to invite him to things because by the way Zhan sucked at social interaction, he wouldn’t have blamed him if he had ignored him altogether.

The door to the lecture room opened and in came a young-looking professor. He walked towards the podium in the middle of the room, “Good Morning class!, welcome to Introduction to the English major, I’m Dr. Oldxian.” He paused briefly before continuing, “This class is going to cover the basics of the major, and we will be experimenting with different writing assignments and papers, I hope to make it fun, but if you find yourself not liking it, the door is that way.”

Dr. Oldxian pulled out a stack of papers from a briefcase and started handing them out while speaking. The whole class consisted of him going over the schedule and answering questions about the materials and books, along with slightly mentioning the details of some of their writing assignment experiments. Honestly, the whole class went by with Zhan Zhengxi not registering a single word of what was being said. His mind was too self-loathing at the moment to process his surroundings.

However, when Dr. Oldxian told them time was up, he darted towards the exit. He started fast-walking to his next class when a hand grabbed him by the shoulder. His body froze for a second, then slowly turned around fully expecting to see Jianyi but was met with someone else instead.

“Why are you in such a rush?” The question came from She Li. Zhan hadn’t seen or contacted him since the day he fought with He Tian and left. Zhan didn’t want to face him, he didn’t know what to say. “Zhan Zhengxi why do you have that look on your face? I’m not going to bite you, my problem is with He Tian, not with you… I tried getting your attention in class, but you didn’t notice.”

“So you’re in that class too?” There he was again, not noticing things. He felt even worse.

She Li took his hand away from his shoulder and half smiled, “Yea I am, although I’m not sure if I want to be an English major yet. Testing the waters. That’s not what I wanted to talk about though.”

“What did you want to talk about then?”

She Li ran his hand through his hair, “I just wanted to know if you guys found someone to room with?” Zhan nodded. “Aw really? You guys sure did find my replacement fast huh?”

“Well we kind of had too, given that you just left without warning and all.” Zhan took a step back as She Li’s eyes narrowed.

“…I suppose. Is it that blonde guy you took the train here with?”

“…Yes. He’s nice.”

“If he’s so nice, then why didn’t you sit next to him?”

More silence.

She Li swung his arm around Zhan’s shoulders this time as he spoke with a cocky attitude, “Tsk Tsk Zhan Zhengxi, you’ve never been the best to be around.”

“What?”

“Oh don’t take that the wrong way. I’ve enjoyed plenty moments with you there, but you’ve always been a side character in my book. I was too focused on Mo Guanshan… Don’t put on that face, you’re uniquely average. I’d take it as a compliment.” He took his arm away and waved goodbye, “See you later!”

Jianyi had been watching the whole interaction from a far. From his point of view, he could only see that the other guy was close enough to Zhan Zhengxi to make physical contact with him. He spoke so freely, and it made him irritated. Why was Zhan comfortable talking to everybody else but him? As soon as the other one left, he marched over and placed his hand on Zhan’s shoulder, wanting to ask him why he didn’t want to be his friend. His determined look instantly fell flat when he saw the other boy’s face.

Zhan Zhengxi looked pale and sad. His stare was deadpanned. The hand on the shoulder startled him, but he turned towards him. Jianyi realized that the interaction he had just witnessed was not a happy one as he had thought. He didn’t like seeing Zhan look so upset. Even if he was an asshole to him, no one deserved to be left a sullen mess like that, “Zhan Zhengxi, what happened? Who was that? What did he say to you?”

Zhan shook his shoulder free, “It’s not your concern Jianyi.” As always, those words came out a bit harsher than he had intended too. He winced slightly when the blonde backed away, “I need to get to class, I’ll see you at home.”

Jianyi watched as he left. He started heading towards his own class as well, Intro to Art. As he walked he couldn’t help the heaviness that was in his heart caused by Zhan Zhengxi. When he got to his class though, he was pleasantly surprised to see Mo Guanshan there at a workstation. Eagerly, he approached, “Carrot head, you’re here?!”

Mo looked up in mild annoyance, “Jianyi, hi, yea I’m uh…minoring in art.” He moved his bag from the seat next to him, so the blonde could take it, “What about you, into art as well?”

“Yea! I’m thinking about minoring in it too. Gotta have some form of creative outlet you know haha.” The redhead did not join in in his laughter. A few seconds passed and his heart sank again as he remembered Zhan Zhengxi’s sad face. “Hey carrot head?”

“What?”

“…How did you become friends with Zhan Zhengxi?” What Jianyi really wanted to ask was if he knew who the silver haired guy was that had affected Zhan so much. But he settled for asking him how he became his friend, because maybe if he had that information, he could make him stop being mean to him, and maybe then he could make sure Zhan never looked upset again.

Mo interrupted his flow of thoughts, “huh… you know I don’t really know.”

“What do you mean?”

“He kind of just started hanging out with us I guess and playing basketball and stuff. Idk ask He Tian, he’s the one that knows more.”

Before he could say anything else, the professor walked in, and the conversation was dropped. This time it was Jianyi who did not pay attention during the whole class. His mind was focused on Zhan Zhengxi. He wanted to know more about him. He still wanted to know why he didn’t seem to like him. That was the main thing bugging him so much. But why was it bugging him? He shouldn’t care about someone who didn’t care about his existence. But he couldn’t help it, Jianyi had always been a caring person.

Finally, his art professor announced they could leave, and he walked out with Mo. The rest of the day went by slow, with both Jianyi’s and Zhan Zhengxi’s minds preoccupied with questions and self-doubt. This was not the way their first day of being University students was supposed to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had some of the worst weeks lately, but I finally wanted to update again. Let me know how you like it .


	7. just trying my best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jianyi would like to get closer to Zhan Zhengxi

Zhan Zhengxi was the first person to return to the apartment that evening. Seeing as no one else was there, he threw his bag on the floor, microwaved some leftovers from the previous day and slumped down onto the couch. With a heavy sigh he stretched out his arm to grab the TV remote, but it wasn’t there. Someone had left it perched on top of the dining table. Zhan groaned, refusing to get up from his spot, he started eating. He should have been happy, this had been his first day as a university student, but he felt disappointed in how it turned out.

“I shouldn’t give one single rat’s ass about what She li said to me, he’s just one person.” He thought, trying to pep himself up a bit, “besides… he isn’t the greatest person either, “What kind of jerk would just up and leave like that?” Although that was true, nothing could stop him from thinking about how much he had messed up recently. He hadn’t meant to come off so rude to Jianyi. The blonde seemed like a good guy. It sucked that his social skills were absolute shit because it would have been nice to get closer to him. They were even in the same major, and had a class together, they could have helped each other out! He ate the rest of his food in silence.

While washing his plate, he thought about his next move. Obviously trying to interact with Jianyi was useless, and he didn’t want the guy to end up hating him, therefore he would just stop trying. So, he had felt bad for not being as observant and present as he thought he was, but now he was certain he knew what he was good at… and that was being by himself. Sure he would still play videogames with them all, eat together, the basics, but he would make no extra effort. People couldn’t strongly dislike him if he didn’t talk to them. He was tired, and before anybody else came home, he dragged himself to his room.

* * *

Jianyi came home hoping that He Tian would be there because he wanted to ask him about Zhan Zhengxi. The question had been burning in the back of his mind the whole day and he needed answers. There seemed to be no one there, or so it seemed. Walking down the hallway he could see a small light coming from Zhan’s room. He really wanted to burst in and ask him what had made him so upset today, but he knew that probably wouldn’t go well, and Zhan would end up harshly kicking him out. Instead he quietly slid against the wall next to the brunette’s room and sat on the floor.

After a couple minutes, Mo Guanshan came in with He Tian. Jianyi sprung to his feet and marched over to meet them. They both said hi, but that was it. Jianyi kept making attempts to speak, but the two were deep in discussion.

“Did you really have to throw milk on his head? What are you, a fifth grader?”

“Aw come on lil Mo, what was I supposed to do, just let him insult us?”

Mo made his way towards his room, with He Tian following. Jianyi tagged along while trying to say something, “Hey I need to-“ He was completely ignored.

“He didn’t insult both of us.”

“Yes he did! She li asked you why you hang around a “dumb fuck” like me. See, he insulted me by calling me that and insulted you by assuming you shouldn’t be around me.”

Jianyi tried again, “If I could just take He Tian away for just a-“

“He Tian that’s not an insult, and you are a dumb fuck.”

“Wow, hurtful. But if I am, then _why_ do you hang around me so much? … could it be you _like_ being around me?” Tian smirked.

Mo turned away from him and walked into his room, he tried slamming the door shut, but He Tian caught it and went inside. The person who did get the door shut in front of him was poor Jianyi. “How rude, why is everybody in this apartment ignoring me?” He would have been angrier at the two if only he didn’t suspect their relationship to be special. Odd but special, therefore he couldn’t truly get that angry with them.

Jianyi decided his question would have to wait for tomorrow when hopefully He Tian was free. What he didn’t know was that Tian would be a very busy person. For the rest of the week, every time he saw him, the guy was working on homework, or a project, or having mock interviews and meetings. He was always surrounded by people. And when he wasn’t doing something for school, he was out with Mo. It was hopeless trying to steal some of his time!

* * *

They were now in the middle of their third week of school and Jianyi gave up on trying to have a full conversation with He Tian. Did he really need to ask him how they became friends with Zhan Zhengxi? The information could be useful, but he didn’t have all eternity to wait for a chance to ask. Besides while waiting to talk to Tian, he had been trying to get closer to Zhan all by himself. Only it hadn’t been going well.

***flashback to a Wednesday***

Jianyi knocked on Zhan’s door, “Hey I was thinking we should make some breakfast before taking the train to campus” He knocked again, but no answer. Eventually carrot head spoke up from the kitchen, “No use, he left already.” Jian nodded sadly.

Later he spotted him sitting in the back of their class and chose to sit right next to him.

“Uh… I think we should take the train together.”

No reply

“….Um that way you don’t have to get up so early.”

No reply

“I promise I don’t bite… unless you’re into that ha..ha.”

No reply, but there was slight scowl.

After class Jianyi recognized the guy who had spoken to Zhan Zhengxi that had made him look so down. Unfortunately, he was scary looking, so any courage he had built up to go confront him left his body in a second. Besides Zhan had told him it was none of his business, so he didn’t want to do anything that could further jeopardize things. He let it go for the day.

***flashback to a Thursday***

He saw him walking towards the library and ran up to him.

“Zhan Zhengxi, I was wondering if we could hang out today?”

“Can’t”

Why such a short reply, he didn’t even look at him when he said it. “…How bout tomorrow?”

“Too much homework.”

“Everybody needs study breaks here and there.”

“Not me.”

“I don’t think that’s-“ * _Zhan entered the library, leaving Jianyi behind._ “Ah ok.” He let it go again.

***flashback to a Sunday***

He thought about cooking him some food as he had done the first day, but he was going to need help if he wanted to do it correctly. He approached Mo Guanshan, who was in the middle of eating lunch at the table.

“Carrot head would you help me with something?”

“What?”

He was nervous, “Could you um, help me make a nice plump omelet with rice?”

Mo turned to look at him, “You just want me to cook it for you don’t you?”

“How dare you accuse me of that! I genuinely want to learn…so I can make Zh- MYSELF something decent to eat.”

Mo was a softy at heart, and once he finished eating he helped Jianyi make the food. After much scolding from the redhead, Jianyi finally made an ok dish. He felt proud of himself. Surely he would get on Zhan’s good side with this.

Then the doorbell rang, and Zhan Zhengxi stepped out of his room to open it. He had ordered take-out… A single tear slid down Jian’s face, and before Mo Guanshan could notice he picked up a fork and gobbled up the food he had just prepared for the other.

* * *

He really was trying his absolute best. The next week, Zhan took the train with him once but stood far away and every time Jianyi tried engaging in some sort of interaction, he failed. However, that hadn’t stopped his efforts. In fact, he went all in trying to talk to him, and boy could he talk. He talked to him in class any chance he got, he followed him outside and walked next to him while blabbering random thoughts such as,

“The sky is always so pretty” “Last night I dreamt that there was a clown chasing me and I made him a balloon-animal so he’d stop. I don’t even know how to make balloon-animals.” And “I want to get better at cooking like carrot head, I wonder when he learned? Can he cook a carrot, would that be cannibalism?”

He never got replies. At home he talked to him until he got a door shut in his face. He gave it his all, and yet…it wasn’t working.

Which is why he decided to give up. It was pointless, maybe Zhan Zhengxi was better off by himself. He certainly seemed to be content not being friends with him, or close friends with anybody for that matter. Why was Jianyi making such an effort anyways? He thought back to the sad expression that had been plastered on Zhan Zhengxi’s face and winced a little at the memory. He didn’t like that look on him, it hurt to remember it. But that was the only time he had seen it. Now the only look he ever saw on him was either expressionless or irritated, mostly directed at him.

“Fine Zhan Zhengxi, forget you!” he whisper/yelled into the air while slightly pouting. Jianyi was on the floor of his room staring up at the ceiling. His mind clouded by thoughts of the boy who seemed to ignore his existence. Then, an alarm went off from his laptop that pulled him out of his head. When he checked the alarm his eyes went wide, “Oh shit!” He panicked, “I forgot about the stupid paper!” After the first day of classes, he had imputed all important school due dates onto his computer’s calendar so he wouldn’t forget them. The first rough draft of a paper was due in two days and Jianyi didn’t even have the book he needed to read for it. In fact, he didn’t have any of his required readings.

He was broke because he still hadn’t found a job! How could he be so scatter brained! His initial plan had been to find employment quickly so he could afford his class materials, save to pay rent, buy a new phone, and be able to go out and not be dependent on anybody. He slapped himself, now was not the time to dwell on that because he had a bigger issue… the paper. He had gotten by class discussions through the help of spark notes, but he knew he couldn’t whip up a grade A academic piece of literature with just that, he knew because he had tried before in high school and it was not a success. Plus, he wanted to try his best in university to prove to his mother that he was capable of doing things on his own.

He didn’t know anybody in his class well enough to ask for their help. Besides, they would also need the book for their own assignment. And the thought of telling others about his financial situation made him anxious. They probably wouldn’t judge, but then again maybe they would. He didn’t want to take that risk. There was only one person that could possibly help him… and it was the person he had just given up on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year. Unfortunately, I lost my childhood pet and I've been a wreck, but I need more Zhanyi content.


End file.
